Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP)

Targeted Continental Drilling of Paleogene Hyperthermals

The targets are two events in particular: the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ETM1) and the Elmo (ETM2) event. ~200 meters of core have been collected from each of three sites (Polecat Bench, Gilmore Hill, Basin Substation) in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming to better constrain the causes and effects of Paleogene hyperthermal events. Hyperthermals are abrupt, large-magnitude global warming events associated with extreme perturbations to the Earth's carbon cycle.